Feeding, cleaning, and separating device.



lPatented June 23, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

JWM

BY i

MEURLING'. EEEDING, GEE'ANING AND SEEAEATING DEVICE.

l APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1909. 1 1 00,759.

l! ....552 as..

W|TN ESSESI )Ca/W' COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. c.

I. MEURLIN G. PENDING, CLEANING, AND SEPANATING DEVICE.

y APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1909. I 1,1 00,759. Patented June 23, 1914.

s sRBBTs-sHEET 2.

v INVENTOR maf/W COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPM cc.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

l I. MEURLING.

FEBDING, CLEANING, AND SEPARATING DEVICE.

APPLIUATION FILED Mus, 1909.

1 1 00,759.. Patented June 23, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Ih il MATORNEYS ionrrnn STATES PATENT ormoni.. i

IVAE MEUR-LING, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EMPIRE DUPLEX GIN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA.

FEEDING, CLEANING, AND SEPARATING DEVICE.

Limb/59.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Ivan MEURLING, a native of Sweden, but having announced my intention to become a citizen of the 'United States of America, and a resident of Salem, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful 1mprovements in Feeding, Cleaning, and Separating Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates particularly to means for preparing cotton in its raw state*V for a ginning operation. Cotton in its raw state includes mature cotton fibers with seeds attached thereto, immature locks, parts of locks, sand, dust, leafy trash, and other refuse.

1n my present invention 1 propose to first separate the immature locks, parts of locks, and all seed cotton not fully grown and developed, together with certain refuse, from the mature'cotton, and thereafter to remove the sand, dust, leafy trash, and the like, such as normally adheres to the mature cotton fibers, and finally to deliver the mature cotton fibers with their seeds attached, to a cotton gin for a ginning operation.

1t is a further object of my invention to separate immature locks and other material so separated into various grades for the reason that the fibers of such material have some value and may be treated thereafter.

To the foregoing ends my invention consists in certain novel elements, combinations of parts, and details of construction, such as will be fully set forth hereinafter, and in order that my invention may be thoroughly understood, 1 will now describe in detail an embodiment thereof, having reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating the same, and will then point out the novelv features in claims.

ln the drawings: Figure 1 is a view in transverse vertical section through a feeder, cleaner, and separator embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a top view of the apparatus, with certain parts broken away. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views on an enlarged scale of a part of the separating screen.

The apparatus includes an inclosing casing 10, the upper end of which has a receiving mouth 11 for receiving raw cotton, and

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 8. 1909.

Patented June 23, 1914.

Serial 170.494,899.

the lower end of which has a discharge mouth-12 for delivering the cleaned cotton to a gin, or to a collector and distributor, to be later delivered to a gin or gins. feeding means is provided in the upper end of the casing, the said feeding means comprising, in the present instance, two fluted feed rolls 13 which are mounted in proximity to the receiving mouth, and a picker roll 14, mounted just to the rear of the said feed rolls. The feed rolls are given a step by step movement by means of a ratchet and pawl mechanism comprising a ratchet 15 mounted upon the shaft of the lower feed roll 13 and a pawl 1G mounted upon a vibrating lever 17 pivoted at 18 and to which movements of oscillation are imparted by means of a link 19 which connects one arm of the said lever 17 with a crank pin 20 upon a pulley 21 which is mounted upon a stationary stud 22 upon the side of the easing. Rotary movements are imparted to the pulley 21 by means of a belt connection 23 with a small pulley 24 which is secured to the shaft of the picker roll 14, and rotary movements are imparted to the said picker roll and its shaft by means of a belt connection 25 with a pulley 26 upon the main shaft 27.

Located beneath the feed rolls 13 and the picker roll 14 is a vibratory screen 2S. This screen is disposed at an angle to the hori- Lzontal, the upper end thereof being located in proximity to the picker roll 14 and the ldirection of rotation of the picker roll is such as to deliver material directly to the extreme upper end of the screen. The said screen is mounted to vibrate longitudinally in suitable guideways 29, the said guideways being suspended at their lower ends by means of brackets 30 upon the drive shaft `27, and supported at their upper ends by .means of a vertically adjustable plate 31 which is held in position against the rear of the casing by means of bolts 32. The holes ,in the plate 31, through which the bolts 32 pass, are slotted so that the plate may be 'vertically adjusted tothereby adjust the upper end of the guideways, the said guideways swinging freely from their support upon the shaft 27 for this purpose. Vibratory movements are imparted to the screen 28 by means of an eccentric 33 mounted upon the shaft 27, the said eccentriobeing provided with a Strap 34 and an eccentric rod which at its free end connects at 36 withy the upper extremity of the screen 28. It will be noted that the arrangement of these parts is such that their operation is 1n no way affected by the vertical; adjustment of the plate 31.

The screen 2S comprises a plurality of transversely arranged rods 37 constituting a grid, (as distinguished from a lattice or mesh,) and everyother rod is preferably arranged in a portion of the screen adjustable with respect' to the other portion thereof whereby the distance between the rsaid rods may bel adjusted. The alternate rods are preferably off-set with respect to each other,-th'at is to say, they are arranged in two different plaines whereby the screen comprises in effect a plurality of pairs of rods, which are in: the path of the material as it movesl dowir the screen. Thus the material will have a tendency toffalllfbetween each such pair of rods, but not between the rodsVV of adjacent pairs, as will bey readily' und'erstood by reference to Fig. 5- of the drawings-,-it being borne in mind that the screen is disposed at an angle to the horizontal, andi thatv there is a constant' movement of the materialr forwardly' over the' screen.k The tend?- ency of this forwardY movement, coupledr with the force. of' gravity, projects the ma;- terial' through the` screen substantially in the direction shown by theY arrows in Fig. 5. Thus by adjusting' the rods of each pair with respect toA eaclr other thel desired ad'- `justment isobtained, the reverse adjustment of the rods of adjacent pairsl thus effected at the same time being substantially immateria-l in the operation of the device', because of the fact just above stated, that substantial-ily no material passes down between them. I have providedi the frame members of the screen with portions 38-39 and? adjustingr screws 40V between them by which the aforo; said adjustment may be effected.

Thel screen. may bel conveniently difvided up into two or more sections, and in the' present example of my ina'ention I have shown the said screen as divided upinto three sections 41-42`-43,. the section 41 Vcomprising; rods which are quite close together, the portion: 42 comprising rods which are somewhat wider apart, and the section 48 comprising` rods which are still farther apart. Thus the section 41 constitutes a fine screen, the section 42' a medium. screen, and the section' 43 a coarse screen.

Mounted' upon the main shaft 27 in proximity to the lower end of the screen. is a picker roll 44, the said screen being arranged substantially tangent to the circumferential edgesof the pins of the said roller. The direction of-rotation of the drive shaft and' hence of the said picke roll isl in the direction of the arrow shown against the said' roll in Fig. 1,-in other words, in a diis crossed, whereby to impart movements in the proper direction to the said picker roll.

:If desired other picker rolls 45-46 may be 'employed in connection with the screen 28, the said picker rollers being arranged rcspectively at the lower ends of the sections 42 and 41, but either or both of these rolls may be omitted,r if desired. there used the bearings for the said? rolls 45 and. 46 will bc mounted on a part movable with the guideways 29 so that they will partake of the angular adjustment of the slide, and they may be driven by suitable belt connections with the main pickel' rolll shaft 27. Beneath the screen I provide conveyors 47-4349, one

for each sectiony of the screen employed, for

the purpose of conveying away material which passes through they said screen.

Beneath the picker roll 44, I provide a fa-nf roll 50, and in conjunction therewith I provide al screen' 51 conveniently of the wire mesh variety, the saidv screen being curved concentrically with the axis of the rotation of the fan roll 50 and extending for some distance around the periphery thereof. rlhe fan roll 50 is driven by means of a belt connection 52'.

Beneath the screen 51 is a screw conveyer 53 for carrying away the material delivered' through the said screen, and I have provided suitable belt connections from the shaft of the fan roll 50.120 the said! screw conveyor 58 and to the screw conveyers 47'-48-`49 for driving the same.

Theoperation of the device is as follows: Raw cotton including; mature cotton fibers with seeds attached, immature locks, sand, dust, leafy trash, and other refuse, is received within the mouth 11 and fed forward gradually by the feed rollers 13 to the picker roll 14. The picker roll 14, which revolves quite rapidly, deli-vers all the material thus fed to it, toy the extreme upper end'y of the screen 28. The screen is being rapidly vibrated, and the material thus delivered to the screen will be` tumbled gradually down the screen until it reaches the lirst picker roll. It a picker roll 46 is employed this picker roll will tend toY throw the material back upon the upper portion of the section 41 of the screen so as to cause the same to be repeatedly acted upon by the screen, the material rejected by the said screen section, bei-ng, however, carried over little by little by the said picker roll and delivered upon the section 42 at the opposite side thereof. The material will then work down the section 42 until it reaches the end thereof, and if a roller 45l be pro.- vided,I the material will be treated in the same way as it was treated by the roller 46. Thereafter the material will work down the section 43 until it reaches the picker roll 44. The section of the screen 41 is designed to be so fine as to only permit sand, dust, leafy trash, and the like to pass through it, whereby the cotton will be cleaned of the free refuse which has been carried therewith, but the undeveloped cotton will be carried with the mature fibers to the section 42. The material carried away by the conveyer 49 is therefore waste'material. In passing over the screen sections 42-48 the immature loclrs, parts of locks, and other undeveloped seed cotton will be delivered through the screens, being divided by the said screen sections 42 and 43 into two grades and carried away in this graded and classified condition by the conveyers 47 and 48. The iluy mature seed cotton with the seeds attachedy will now be delivered by the picker roll 44 to the fan roll 50, and the fan roll in its rotation will rub the same against the screen 4l to thereby free the same from sand, dust, and leafy trash, such as has adhered so closely thereto as to have resisted the beforementioned screening operation. It will be realized that the screening operation performed upon the screen 28 is a tumbling operation only, such as is produced by the rapid reciprocation of the angularly arranged screen. 1t is necessary to be careful that no violent action take place until after the immature locks have been separated from the mature cotton, because otherwise the immature locks might readily be opened and the partially mature cotton freed therefrom whereby it might become so mixed with the mature fibers as to be carried over therewith. After the immature cotton has, however, been separated from the mature fibers a more severe screening action may readily be imparted thereto and it is such an action which is imparted by the coaction of the fan roller 50 with the screen 51 whereby dust, sand, leafy trash, and other line refuse is cleared therefrom and forced through the screen 5l to be carried away by the conveyer 53. The immature cotton fibers with the seeds attached are delivered through the mouth 12 and are then ready to be received by a gin for a ginning operation to remove the seeds. The material delivered by the conveyers 47 and 48 is also received for further treatment, while the material delivered by the conveyers 49 and 53 is thrown away.

`What 1 claim is:

l. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined screen composed of a plurality of transverse bars constituting a grid, said screen beine divided into a plurality of sections, the bars of which are arranged at progressively greater distances apart, and being spaced apart a distance sufficient to permit immature locks to pass between them, means for feeding raw cotton to the screen, and means for vibrating said screen, in a direction transverse with respect of said bars.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined screen composed o-f a plurality of transverse bars constituting a grid, said screen being divided into a plurality of sections, the bars of which are arranged at progressively greater distances apart, means for relatively adjusting alternate bars with respect to the bars between them, means for feeding raw cotton to the screen, and means for vibrating said screen, in a direction transverse with respect of said bars.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising a feeding means, a vibratory screen section for cleaning the material of fine loose waste matter, another vibratory screen section for separating immature locks and parts of locks from the developed fibers, a fixed screen, and means moving in proximity to said fixed screen to rub the mature cotton fibers against the same to force fine waste matter through the screen.

4. Apparatus of the class described comprising a feeding means, a vibratory screen section for cleaning the material of fine loose waste matter, a plurality of vibratory screen sections in advance of the first said section for separating immature locks from mature cotton fibers, said screen sections being progressively coarser whereby the matter removed is graded and classified; a fixed screen, and means moving in proximity to said fixed screen to rub the mature cotton fibers against the same to force fine waste matter through said screen.

5. Apparatus of the class described comprising a feeding means, an inclined vibratory screen comprising a section for cleaning the material of fine loose waste matter, a plurality of other sections for separating immature locks from mature cotton fibers, said screen sect-ions being progressively coarser whereby the matter removed is graded and classified, a rotary picker roll located near the lower end of said vibratory screen, a line wire mesh screen arranged beyond said picker roller and a fan roller arranged to rotate in close proximity to said wire mesh screen and to carry material fed thereto by the picker roll between itself and the screen.

6. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined screen having a plurality of progressively coarser sections, picker rolls arranged to rotate in proximity to the face of said screen, located at substantially the lower end of each section, means for feeding raw cotton to the upper end of the first sect-ion, and means for vibrating said screen.

7. Apparatus of the class described comof said screen located at substantially the t lower end of each section, means for feeding raw cotton to the upper end of the irst section, means for vibrating said screen, a fine stationary wire mesh screen arranged beyond said picker rolls, and a roller arranged t0 rotate 'in close proximity to said wire mesh screen and to carry material fed thereto by the lowermost picker roll, between itself and the screen.

IVAR MEURLNG.

lVitnesses:

A. L. DELANEY, E. J. SoHoUw.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

